Students in course 2.009 not only learn about the process of creating new products, but also how to pitch their invention, writes Boston Globe reporter Stefanie Friedhoff. According to Prof. David Wallace, the course covers “how you make a product in the real world, with engineers and designers and business people all working together.”
“Researchers at Yale, MIT, and Notre Dame found that the repeal of blue laws in various states was associated with a 5 percent drop in church attendance,” reports Kevin Lewis for The Boston Globe. The repeals also led to a one percent drop in voter turnout, the study found.
Washington Post reporter Danielle Paquette writes about a new study, co-authored by MIT Professor Frank Levy, examining the value of a college degree. The researchers found that the “investment of a college education is generally better for those who graduate — and on time — from a school with healthier resources.”
David Wessel reports for The Wall Street Journal on new research by Professor Frank Levy that indicates that while for most students college is still a good investment, it can be a risky move for some, in particular males who do not attend elite schools. The researchers conclude that college is "a stepping stone, not a ticket, to the middle class."
A study by co-authored by a team of MIT economists found that financial aid boosts enrollment and persistence, reports Inside Higher Ed. The researchers found that “the effects of the aid in encouraging enrollment and boosting persistence were especially pronounced among nonwhite students and students with lower grade point averages and standardized test scores.”
Carl Straumsheim of Inside Higher Ed writes about the future of higher education at MIT and research universities across the country. Straumsheim writes that MIT plans to “modularize” education, “breaking courses down into smaller modules that can be taken on their own or shuffled and rearranged into a more personalized experience.”
Howard Husock writes for Forbes about Khan Academy, a platform created by MIT alumnus Salman Khan that hosts free courses online. “Our goal is for Khan Academy’s software and content to be the best possible learning experience and for it to be for everyone, for free, forever,” said Khan.
Financial Times reporter Rebecca Knight writes about the Sloan School of Management’s Global Executive Academy, which offers non-English speaking managers a U.S. business education. “We started the GEA to give people who don’t speak English access to Ivy League-level executive education,” says Laura Ziukaite-Hansen. “It’s exciting but it still feels experimental.”
Nidhi Subbaraman of BetaBoston writes about the symposium held in honor of the 100th anniversary of the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, highlighting SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s talk. Musk said that investment in becoming a “multi-planet” species is crucial to the future of humanity.
Rodrique Ngowi writes for the Associated Press about ScratchJr, an app co-developed by MIT researchers to help young children think creatively and develop skills in math and science. “Children as young as 5 can use the app to craft their own interactive stories and games,” writes Ngowi.
“QS released its 2014-2015 world's best college rankings, putting the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at the top,” writes Aileen Graef for UPI. MIT retained its 2013-2014 number-one spot on the list of colleges, which are judged by research, teaching, employability and internationalization.
Brooke Borel profiles edX CEO Professor Anant Agarwal for Popular Science. Agarwal recalls what the experience of failing his physics midterm as a college freshman taught him about how the quality of education varies throughout the world.
Jeffrey R. Young writes for The Chronicle of Higher Education about the final report released by the Institute-wide Task Force on the Future of MIT Education. Speaking of the Task Force’s recommendation to make education more modular, co-chair Sanjay Sarma says, “we see modularity becoming a key part of on-campus experiences as well.”
“[A]s an educational researcher, I believe that MIT has captured, perhaps uniquely, both the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for colleges and universities,” writes Dan Butin for The Huffington Post about a new report released by the MIT Task Force on the Future of MIT Education.
Bloomberg News reporter Kelly Blessing writes about the final report produced by the Institute-wide Task Force on the Future of MIT Education. “The Task Force encourages MIT to evaluate possibilities to achieve increases in undergraduate class size so that more students can experience the rich magic of an MIT residential education,” the Task Force wrote in their report.